True Deception
by hotsytotsy186
Summary: Sydeny and Vaughn are thrown together in yet another mission--- but this time the most unusual of circumstances. Please R & R! I really need the reviews.
1. Chapter 1

It was so nice. She had a husband, three children, and a dog named skip. It was wonderful- not perfect, but wonderful. Wonderfully normal.  
  
Sydney sighed as she unwillingly awoke from her dream. She rolled over on her side and let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She glanced at the clock. 3:27 AM. She sighed yet again as her head sank into the pillow.  
  
Ring  
  
Sydney nearly jumped as she realized that that was what had woken her from her deep slumber.  
  
"Agh..." She reached over and picked up the receiver. "Hello," she answered groggily.  
  
Ring  
  
"What the..." It was then that she realized that it wasn't the regular phone ringing, but her cell phone.  
  
Ring  
  
"I'm coming, I'm coming..." She finally made it to her purse on the dresser and pulled out the CIA issued cell phone. "Hello?"  
  
"Agent Bristow," said a mysterious voice on the other end. "We need you down here ASAP."  
  
They hung up before Syd could even ask Why?  
  
She sighed and looked back at the clock. 3:28 AM.  
  
Sydney walked into CIA headquarters twenty minutes later in jeans and a plain t-shirt, barely any more awake and certainly no more happy.  
  
LA traffic's not that bad at four in the morning, she mused.  
  
As she got off the elevator, she nearly ran into Dixon.  
  
"Agent Bristow, good you're here," he said. Sydney decided he was way too awake for four o'clock in the morning.  
  
Forgetting all formalities, Sydney asked abruptly, "What am I doing here when I should be in my bed, sound asleep?" Those who knew her, knew that Sydney Bristow did not like being taken from her sleep.  
  
"Follow me."  
  
Dixon led her down a long corridor, and through several more passages until they were at a place that Sydney had never been. They stopped at a large gray door where Dixon punched a five digit code into the keypad. The door opened to expose a stark room. The walls were all a cream beige except for the northern one, which was replaced with a Plexiglas window. Along the bottom of the window was a control panel. In the middle of the room sat a solitary table with two legal pads and pens thrown on top.  
  
How cliché, she thought.  
  
"What do you want me for?" Sydney repeated her question, this time her agitation was growing.  
  
"We need you to interrogate someone."  
  
"What?" Dixon just shook his head. "I'm sure there are more personnel here who could do this. There's got to be someone more qualified than me to interrogate someone."  
  
"That's just it, they have," Sydney turned to see Weiss enter through the door followed closely by Vaughn. Each had two cups of coffee in their hands.  
  
"Here," Vaughn said, handing her a Styrofoam cup. "Just how you like it- cream."  
  
"Thank you," Sydney greedily took the beverage from his hands. She felt more awake with the first sip. She took a second to note that Vaughn wasn't wearing his normal suit but jeans and a sweatshirt.  
  
Sydney set her cup down on the table and peered though the window. It was then that she first noticed a girl on the other side. The girl was young, probably no more than fifteen, had dark hair that was swept up into a messy bun atop her head. She wasn't thin, like Sydney, but she definitely wasn't fat either. Round. Sydney stared at her. She'd had to study and read people for a very long, and Sydney just couldn't see any harm coming from this girl.  
  
"You want me to question her?" The pieces just weren't coming together.  
  
"Yes, she's a witness to a murder in England," said Dixon, walking up to the window.  
  
"What does that have to do with the CIA?"  
  
"Her name is Lindsley Hayworth. Her parents were British informants for us. We think she may have clues as to who killed them."  
  
Sydney was incredulous. "Why do you want me to talk to her?"  
  
"Nearly everyone in this building has tried talking to her, but she won't open up. I figured because of the relative closeness in age between you two, she might feel like she can tell you something."  
  
Sydney shook her head.  
  
"What about Lauren. We're about the same age aren't we?" There was a palpable uneasiness that settled in the room. Weiss took a loud sip from his coffee.  
  
"She's in DC," Dixon said matter of factly.  
  
"Syd, she's been here for eight hours and hasn't said anything."  
  
Sydney looked up at Vaughn. "Nothing?"  
  
"Not a single word."  
  
There was silence in the room for a moment.  
  
"This is insane," Sydney said, a smirk crawling onto her face.  
  
"Ok," said Dixon. "Vaughn, you know more about the situation, so why don't you go in to." It wasn't a question. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Hi, my name's Syd, I'd like to ask you a few questions," Sydney sat down at the table across from the girl. The girl's eyes looked up and then darted from Sydney to Vaughn. "Oh, this is, uh..."  
  
"Mike. I'm Mike. We just want to ask you some questions."  
  
Forty-five minutes later, and no more questions answered, Sydney was becoming restless. It wasn't that she had been woken up at 3:30 in the morning that really irritated her. The thing that really did it was that this impertinent girl had the audacity to keep silent.  
  
"Look," she said, finally running out of patience. "You have to answer some questions. We want to help you here, but you've got to help us first. All we want to do is find out who murdered your parents, but if you don't want to, fine. Be that way! All we want to do is help! Come on, Mike, let's go." She motioned for Vaughn to follow her to the door. At first he didn't understand, but it didn't take long for him to see that Sydney was attempting a new ploy to get the girl to talk. It worked.  
  
"I like your style, Sydney," the girl said with a crisp British accent. "It's about time that somebody had a backbone. Well, come one. Let's get this over with."  
  
And fast, thought Sydney.  
  
Looking at the mirror that was the other side of the Plexiglas window, the girl called out, "Go ahead, get your pens ready. I mean, I do assume you have some cohorts behind that." Vaughn nodded. "Alright then, here I go. As you have probably already figured out, my name is Lindsley Hayworth. I'm sixteen. My parents are... were John and Macy Hayworth. They were spies. They were killed, murdered really. And you want to know what I know about their deaths? That's easy- I don't know a thing." She sat back and crossed her arms. "I went up to bed around ten last night- well it would have been two nights ago now, I suppose- and I assume they went shortly after. I read for a little while, and then went to bed. The next thing I know, I'm being roused out of bed by what you might call goons and dragged out to a black van. On my way out, I didn't see much except that the house had been ransacked and that there were two white sheets where my parents should have been. The only reason they didn't get me was because they didn't know I was home. That's all I know." With a tired air, she sat back again.  
  
"Why didn't they know you home?"  
  
"Because I came home early from school."  
  
"Why did you come home?" asked Sydney.  
  
"Because I wanted to."  
  
"Lindsley, why would you say your parents were spies?" asked Vaughn.  
  
"Look- Mike was it?- My parents were spies for almost twenty years with some agency, though I'm not sure which one, but that doesn't mean they were good at it. Speaking of that, I'm not even sure whom it is I'm talking to right now," she leaned forward. "By your accents, you must be American. Which means FBI, NSA, or CIA.... or even some agency I've never heard of. But I'll put my money on one of the last two." She smirked.  
  
"Why would you say that?" asked Sydney.  
  
"Well, Sydney, if that's your name, as I said, my parents were spies. The CIA would be the one to handle that department." Sydney glanced at Vaughn.  
  
"Why do you think someone would have ransacked the house?"  
  
"They were looking for something. But for what, I don't know. However, I do know where to find it. Or at least where to find out what it is they're looking for."  
  
"Ok, go ahead and tell us," said Vaughn. Sydney could tell that the interview was coming to a close.  
  
"Well, you see, that's the problem. If you aren't CIA, you might be the very people who killed my parents. If that's the case, then I'm only worth anything if I have information. If you knew everything, then I might end up just like them. So, I'll cut a deal with you." For the first time, Sydney could detect just a trace of fear in her face. "I will tell you what you need to know only when you need to know it. I will be actively involved in the search. But I'll only work with you two."  
  
Vaughn contemplated this proposition. With a knowing look on his face, he replied, "I think that's a deal we can make."  
  
At once, relief washed over every feature of Lindsley's face.  
  
"Mike, Sydney, it's been nice doing business with you."  
  
Five hours later, all three were on flights headed to London. Sydney and Lindsley posed as sisters coming home from a holiday with their grandmother while Vaughn played the part of a businessman.  
  
They reconnected at Heathrow Airport where Vaughn got them a car and drove the hour and a half to the hotel where they were staying. It was forty minutes outside of Lindsley's hometown.  
  
The hotel was nice, modest, nothing extravagant. Their rooms were on the second floor, connected by a door at the back.  
  
As soon as they entered, Lindsley dropped her bags and collapsed on the bed.  
  
"I am so tired," she yawned. "I don't think I've had more than an hour of sleep in the last two days."  
  
"Well, you can't sleep yet," said Vaughn as he came through the door that adjoined the two rooms. "We have a mission to accomplish. We'll go to your house in two hours, but first we need to make a plan."  
  
"Alright," Lindsley said, propping herself up onto her elbow. "Like I said, I don't know what it was that they were looking for, but I do know where it is, or at least where we can find out what it is." She paused. "My father has a secret study beneath the house."  
  
"If it's so secret, how do you know about it?" asked Vaughn.  
  
Lindsley smirked. "That's a funny story, really. I was playing ball with some of the neighbors when I was eight. One of the boys hit it back into the woods behind my home. I went to retrieve it when... well, actually I just tripped over the entrance."  
  
"Tripped?" Vaughn wasn't sure whether or not to believe this.  
  
"Yes, tripped. We'll just have to get into the study."  
  
"So we'll go through the woods to get to it," said Sydney.  
  
"We could do that, yes, but there's also an entrance from the house."  
  
"No, no... We can't go through the house," said Vaughn, waving his hand. "You have neighbors, they'll see. Besides, for all we know, whoever killed your parents might still be there. We'll go through the woods."  
  
"Once we're inside the study, we'll just need to look for a clue."  
  
"What kind of clue?" asked Sydney.  
  
Lindsley sat up on the bed. "My father wrote everything down. For an intelligence agent, he had a horrible memory."  
  
"Ok then. We drive to your house, through the woods of course, get into the study, and get what we need." Vaughn glanced back at the two women who shook their heads in agreement. "Looks like we've got a plan." 


	3. Chapter 3

"Turn the lights off. We may be in the woods but that light is still visible to the house." Lindsley leaned over the front seat and spoke to Vaughn.  
  
With the lights off, Vaughn had to slow the car even more. The only light was coming from the moon, and even that was partially obliterated by the trees.  
  
"Stop here." Vaughn obeyed and parked the car about fifty yards from the house. "Here comes the fun part."  
  
The three crept toward the house, silently, watching to see if there was any motion in the house.  
  
"Vaughn," Sydney said stopping in her tracks. "Look."  
  
Vaughn followed her pointing finger to a window on the west side of the second floor. A silhouette of a man appeared for a second then disappeared a moment later. Vaughn nodded, yet kept moving.  
  
They moved to within five yards of the house when Lindsley motioned everyone to stop. She knelt down at what looked like a simple tree stump. Placing both hands on it, she nudged it once to the left, then to the right, and finally pushed it forward, revealing a hatch-like door.  
  
"Let's go."  
  
After replacing the stump and shutting the door behind them, Lindsley led the trio down a ladder and into the study. It wasn't much- just a desk with a computer on it and several filing cabinets.  
  
"Just look for something suspicious, I guess," Lindsley shrugged her shoulders.  
  
Sydney glanced at Vaughn and then went right to work.  
  
Ten minutes later, they were no closer to finding what they were looking for than when they had begun the search.  
  
"Lindsley, are you sure it's down here?" asked Vaughn.  
  
"Agent Vaughn, this is the only place my father felt secure about. If it's important, it's here."  
  
They worked for another five minutes in silence until Sydney whispered, "Guys, I think I've got something." She held up what appeared to be a receipt. Lindsley grabbed it.  
  
She starred at it, at first with no comprehension of what it said. But then, like a flash of lightning, she understood. "We've got to go."  
  
"What does it say?" asked Vaughn, rising from his position on the ground.  
  
"It says Lindsley holds the key," replied Sydney. "It's a receipt from a toy store."  
  
Lindsley brushed past Vaughn on her way to the ladder. He caught her arm and asked, "What does it mean?"  
  
Lindsley looked at his hand on her arm. He withdrew it. Icily, she replied, "It means you've got to listen to me if you want to get it." She began to climb the ladder.  
  
"Wait!" said Sydney sharply. "Listen." Above, they could hear feet moving and some talking. The only word any of them could make out was 'car'.  
  
Lindsley's eyes widened in fear. "What are we going to do?"  
  
Sydney thought for a moment. "You said that this room is connected to the house, right? So we can go through the house."  
  
"That's not a good idea, Syd. If there're men out there, there has to be someone in the house as well."  
  
"Agent Vaughn, what if we make a diversion?" Lindsley asked hopefully.  
  
"What kind of diversion?"  
  
"Well, if you follow that ladder all the way up," she said pointing to a similar ladder on the opposite side of the room. "It goes into the attic. There's an electrical panel on the second floor. If someone cuts the power, we may be able to distract them enough so that we can get out."  
  
Vaughn thought a moment and then nodded his head.  
  
"Alright then," said Lindsley as she quickly moved across the room. "I guess I should go up since I know the house the best."  
  
"I don't think that's a good idea, Lindsley," Sydney caught up with her. "What if you run into one of the men up there?"  
  
Lindsley paused, resting her hand on a rung of the ladder. She sighed. "I just don't feel right sending someone else to do my work."  
  
"It's not your work Lindsley." Her face contorted with concern. "I'll go up. Just tell me what to do."  
  
Lindsley gave a weak half-smile. "Ok. Go up this ladder. You'll end up in my parents' closet at first. Just look up, and you'll see another hatch. Go through that. You'll get to the attic then. Go to the other side of the attic and you'll come to another hatch. Be careful when you let it down. It's one that has a ladder attached and it will fall straight down. When you get down to the second floor, go the back of the hall. There are a load of pictures on the wall, but behind the one of my parents and me at the Tower of London is a panel. I guess the surest way is just to pull all of wires. That should be it  
  
"That seems easy enough..."  
  
"Oh, Sydney, I forgot to mention that the attic isn't completely floored." Sydney was confused. "Some of it you can just walk across, but other parts all you have are the beams and rafters."  
  
"Oh. That should be ok," she reassured the young girl.  
  
"It's dark up there, take this," Lindsley reached into the top drawer of the desk and pulled out two flashlights, handing one to Sydney and one to Vaughn. "You might need a torch."  
  
"Sydney after you cut the power, we'll need to meet somehow and get back to the car."  
  
"Agent Vaughn, we can just take my car. It's in the garage. Sydney, meet us in the den, it's right next to my parents' room."  
  
"Ok, wish me luck." Sydney disappeared up the ladder.  
  
Still looking up the small hole through which Sydney had disappeared, Vaughn said, "Now's the hard part."  
  
"I wouldn't worry. I'm sure she can handle it."  
  
"No, not that. She can handle it," looking directly at Lindsley, he finished, "The hard part is waiting."  
  
Sydney brushed yet another cob web out of her face. The dust almost choked her. The ceiling of the attic wasn't high enough for her to stand erect, so she crouched, resulting in a literal pain in the neck. The ladder hadn't been too hard to get up, and this attic wasn't that bad either, but Sydney kept thinking that everything was just too easy. Missions weren't supposed to go easy. In the faint light of the flashlight, Sydney could see the hatch door leading to the second floor.  
  
"Here it goes."  
  
"Sydney should be getting there soon." Vaughn leaned against the ladder.  
  
Seated in the chair at the desk, a thought suddenly occurred to Lindsley. "Agent Vaughn, do you think we'll have problems getting out of the country?"  
  
Vaughn shifted. "Well, only if they find our aliases. Why?"  
  
"Well," Lindsley pulled out the drawer from which the flashlights had come. Turning it over, she dumped out its contents and carefully removed the underside. "Just in case we do run into some sort of trouble, these might be useful." She held up three passports.  
  
Vaughn leaned over and took one from her hand. Paging through it, he discovered that it had a picture of Lindsley's father, although it actually belonged to a man named Pierre Montage. It was a French passport.  
  
"What are these for?"  
  
Lindsley smiled. "Well, my parents were cautious people, for good reason I guess. But they always had these 'just in case.'"  
  
"Just in case?"  
  
Lindsley simply smiled.  
  
Sydney opened the door, peeking into the hall below. She heard voices coming near. From what she could judge, there were two.  
  
"Alright, just stay here and keep watch. We'll find them." The man who spoke passed by quickly, but the other stayed just below the door.  
  
Am I not the luckiest gal in the world, Sydney thought.  
  
Stealthily, she poised the ladder and then let it go. It hit the man squarely in the head, knocking him unconscious.  
  
"That was easy," she whispered. "Now for the picture."  
  
She climbed down the ladder, carefully missing the motionless man. Sydney glanced down toward the end of the hall. It was covered in pictures. Running quietly she looked up and down the wall, trying desperately to locate the picture that she needed.  
  
This is insane, she thought. They're all of Lindsley and her parents. Sydney felt bitter for just an instant, wishing that she had been as close to her father as it appeared that Lindsley was to both of her parents.  
  
Finally, she found it. Pushing it to the side, Sydney yanked all the wires. 


	4. Chapter 4

"That's our signal," said Vaughn as the lights went out. Switching on the flashlight and pointing it into his face, he said, "Time to go."  
  
Vaughn followed Lindsley closely as they ascended the ladder. The one flashlight had to serve as light source for both of them. Going into her parents' room, Lindsley paused beside the bed.  
  
"Lindsley, we need to keep moving." She did not move. "Lindsley." He nudged her. "Go to the garage." To Vaughn it looked as if she picked something up at that point, but in the dark he wasn't sure. Besides, too many other things were going through his mind at that point.  
  
"What happened to the blasted electricity?" someone screamed.  
  
"I don't' know sir, but I'll get right on it."  
  
The two ducked back in to the shadows as someone passed by the door. Checking the hallway, Vaughn turned to Lindsley.  
  
"Let's go."  
  
Sydney whirled around. Her trained ears had heard footsteps. She knew it. She pressed her body against the wall, hoping that she wouldn't be seen. But then again, she couldn't even see who was up there, how could they see her?  
  
Cautiously, she walked forward. The man on the floor groaned.  
  
"Thompson!" Another man yelled up the stairs. He had an American accent. "Stupid Brits can't do anything." Sydney heard the man trudging up the steps. "Always gotta do this stuff myself."  
  
Sydney saw the beam of his flashlight hit the wall opposite her. She knew it was time to take action. As the man came up the last step, Sydney jumped, pushing all her weight against him. He was knocked off balance for just an instance, hitting the wall. Sydney backed up and gave him a swift kick in the gut. He again slammed against the wall. Sydney thought that would be enough but the man got up. He lunged toward her in the darkness, catching her cheek with his hand. She felt it swelling immediately. The man hit the floor with a thud. Sydney jumped on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to cut his oxygen. She sat there for several seconds until the man's motion subsided. Sydney sat back, catching her breath.  
  
"Shouldn't be to cocky, man."  
  
Vaughn and Lindsley ducked into the den. They had been lucky so far, no one had caught them or even noticed their presence.  
  
Lindsley ran to the door at the back of the room. Reaching up, she grabbed a set of keys off the rack beside the door.  
  
"Where's Agent Bristow?" she asked turning.  
  
"I don't know, she should be here." Vaughn came towards her. "Just hang on."  
  
Just then, a silhouetted form appeared in the hall doorway. Lindsley caught her breath. Vaughn reached for the gun in his holster.  
  
"Found ya!"  
  
Vaughn's grip relaxed. "Sydney, come on."  
  
"Sorry I'm late," she ran across the room to meet the other two.  
  
"Better late than never." Grabbing the keys, Lindsley headed into the garage, straight to the driver's seat.  
  
"Lindsley, do you have your license?" asked Vaughn, catching up. Sydney slid into the back passenger seat.  
  
"Not exactly."  
  
Vaughn rounded the front of the car and pulled open the driver side door. "Get out."  
  
Lindsley put the key in the ignition.  
  
"Vaughn get in the car!" Sydney said sharply from the back seat.  
  
"Lindsley, you can't drive. Give me the keys and slide over."  
  
"Agent Vaughn!" Lindsley snapped.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Shut-up." With that, Vaughn slid into the back next to Sydney.  
  
Lindsley turned the key and the car came to life. Throwing it into reverse, Lindsley steered the car right through the garage door, effectively smashing it into a thousand pieces. She got it onto the road and hit the gas as hard as she could.  
  
"Lindsley, we're being followed!" yelled Sydney.  
  
Lindsley's heart began to beat faster. She made a quick left.  
  
"You only lost one. There's still another one behind us," said Vaughn.  
  
They were coming into downtown, flying along the empty roadway. Lindsley made a right, hoping that the car chasing them would not be able to make the sharp turn. It did. Still going at full speed, Lindsley threw the car into a u-turn and began heading back the way they had come. She pulled through a narrow alley and came out on another street, heading north.  
  
"Are they gone?" she asked breathlessly.  
  
"I think so," replied Vaughn. "Keep driving though, just in case."  
  
Sydney eased back into the leather seat. Vaughn still stared intently out the back window at the fading lights of the small town. A small smile formed on Lindsley's face.  
  
"You did pretty good back there," Sydney said as they entered the countryside about fifteen minutes later. "Really good."  
  
Looking into the rearview mirror, Lindsley said, "I'm surprised."  
  
"At what?"  
  
"How good of a driver I am. I mean, you never would have known that that was my first time behind the wheel." 


	5. Chapter 5

Lindsley yawned. She'd been driving for almost an hour now. The soft light of dawn was just beginning to tinge the eastern sky.  
  
"Alright," said Vaughn from the back seat. "You can pull over now."  
  
She pulled just onto the shoulder of the deserted highway.  
  
"I'm fairly certain that no one is following us now."  
  
Lindsley got out and stretched. It felt good. She let the cool pre-dawn air caress her cheeks. Vaughn and Sydney did as well.  
  
"Sydney, I haven't had any sleep in the past four days," Lindsley said. "Would you mind sitting up front so I can stretch out back there. Try to get some rest."  
  
"Sure, no problem."  
  
About half-an-hour later, Sydney turned to look at the sleeping form of the young girl in the back seat. Sydney thought she looked very peaceful, the rhythmic rising of her chest evidencing her deep sleep.  
  
"She doesn't deserve this," Sydney said out of the blue.  
  
"What?" asked Vaughn coming out of a trance like state.  
  
"Lindsley. She doesn't deserve to be mixed up in all this. Just think: less than a week ago, she was a normal girl." The thought hung in the dry air. Turning to Vaughn, Sydney said, "Do you ever wonder?"  
  
"About what?" he asked, slightly confused.  
  
"What if we had never been mixed up in this life? I mean, I keep thinking what would my life by like if there had bee no such thing as SD-6? If I hadn't been recruited?" Sydney gave a cynical chuckle. "I'd be a lit student. I might've even be passed my classes. Francie would still be here. Will... Will would still be Will. I might even have more friends." She stared out the window at bright star. "Danny and I would be married."  
  
Vaughn didn't know what to say so he remained silent.  
  
"What about you?"  
  
"Me?" he glanced at her. "Oh, I don't know. I've never really given it much thought."  
  
Lindsley gave a quiet whimper in the back seat, but settled down quickly.  
  
"But I kinda get how you feel about the whole friends thing. I mean, my only real friend would be Eric. I don't know... I guess that this job has really kept me from having any meaningful relationships."  
  
"How so?" Sydney resituated herself so she could face him.  
  
"I'm just so scared that something would happen to anyone I cared for because of me and my job. And then, after seeing what happened to my mother when my father died... Well, I just don't ever want to put anyone in that position."  
  
"So your job has forced you to really distance yourself from people."  
  
Vaughn smiled. "Are you sure that Will was the reporter?"  
  
Sydney grinned.  
  
Sydney couldn't stand the silence that followed. "I've got some questions for you."  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"What's your favorite color?"  
  
He glanced at her skeptically. "Favorite color? Uh... orange." Sydney skewed up her face. "What's wrong with orange?"  
  
"Oh, nothing. I mean, if that's what you like."  
  
"Really."  
  
"Well, I never really considered orange to be much of a color."  
  
"Then what is a color?" Vaughn couldn't hide the grin escaping onto his face.  
  
"Blue."  
  
"Blue?"  
  
"Yes, blue. It has all the qualities desired of a true color."  
  
"And those would be?"  
  
"Well, it's hard to say... Blue has so many different shades. I mean light blue, dark blue, midnight blue, periwinkle."  
  
"Periwinkle?"  
  
"Periwinkle. Blue is just so pretty and relaxing. I mean everybody likes it."  
  
She left the conversation at that and within minutes she was asleep.  
  
Sydney stood in the hot shower and let the water run down her body, easing away the night's tension. They had driven almost four hours to a town just east of London and were regrouping there for the night.  
  
She turned the water off and pulled a towel close around when she heard a muffled moaning. Dressing quickly, she made her way into the hotel room, which was set up much as the previous had been.  
  
Curled up on the bed was Lindsley, her face buried deep into a pillow.  
  
Sydney rushed to her side and sat softly on the bed.  
  
"Lindsley?" she placed her hand on the girl's back. Lindsley jumped.  
  
"Sydney," she said as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I thought you taking a shower."  
  
"I'm done."  
  
"Oh." She wiped another tear.  
  
"You can talk to me."  
  
A hopeful look crossed the girl's face. "I don't want to burden you."  
  
"You won't. Talk to me."  
  
There was a moment of silence before Lindsley let the tears explode from her body. It was as if a floodgate had been opened and Lindsley now buried her head in Sydney's shoulder. After several moments the tears subsided.  
  
"I guess, it's just hitting me now. My parents are... Ah, I can't even say it. I mean I realize that their profession called for some sort of danger, but... They're gone, and they aren't coming back, Sydney. There's nothing that will bring them back. I want to kill the bastard who did this. I'm going to kill them!" She regained her composure and continued. "You know, most people who lose someone go through some sort of process, but not me. First I feel nothing, and then this... Sydney, I don't know if I can do this." Lindsley looked for an answer that wasn't there in Sydney's eyes.  
  
"Lindsley, you say you want to kill the people who did this. We want to bring them to justice as much as you do, but we can't do it without your help, we need..."  
  
"You don't know what it's like!"  
  
"Yes I do."  
  
Silence.  
  
"I lost my mother, too. When I was almost six years old, my mother died. It was horrible. I remember wishing mommy would come home but knowing that she wouldn't. I remember praying one night, more than just that night I'm sure, that God would come and take me instead of my mother. But we have to move on. Ask Agent Vaughn. He lost his father. Lindsley, we've all lost someone, but don't you think that we owe it to them to continue? Isn't that what they'd want?"  
  
Lindsley sniffed. "I'm going to bed." With that, she got under the covers and turned away, effectively ending the conversation.  
  
Sydney entered Vaughn's room without knocking. He was seated at the table, in his pajamas, reviewing notes of the day's events. He looked up for a moment as Sydney entered and sat on the bed, wrapping the blanket around her. She said nothing and he returned to the papers.  
  
Suddenly, "Do you think about your dad?"  
  
He laid the paper down and rubbed his forehead. "That's an awful lot of questions for one day, don't you think?"  
  
"I think about my mom all the time."  
  
He stood up, poured a glass of water and handed it to Sydney.  
  
"Yeah, I guess I do think about him. Not every day, but close. Especially when I'm in the field." He sat down next to her.  
  
"Especially when you're around me, you mean." She sipped the water.  
  
"That has nothing to do with it, Syd," he put his arm lovingly around her. "The fact that I chose the same career path as my father has everything to do with it. Will I come home this time? If I don't, what are they going to say about me?"  
  
"Have you ever thought about leaving?" She searched his eyes.  
  
He sat in contemplative silence. "Well..." The cell phone next to him chirped shrilly, effectively murdering the comforting quite. He looked down at the display. "It's...it's Lauren." He was almost apologetic.  
  
"Ok. Well, I'll see you tomorrow." It chirped again.  
  
"Good night." 


	6. Chapter 6

It was familiar, this place. He knew it like he knew the back of his hand. The sun streamed in through the yellow curtains in kitchen, giving even the living room a homey glow. He was eight again. This was his home.  
  
He entered it much as he had every other day. His mother sat at the table, stiff, unmoving.  
  
"Mama," he said quietly. He dropped the ball in his hand, the one just minutes before that had been shuttling through the air like a rocket as Michael played with his young friends outside. She looked up with such a worn, such a haggard look that he knew, instinctively. Just like he had when he was eight. But there was something different about the features of the woman's face. It wasn't, as he had begun to expect, his mother. It was Lauren.  
  
"You're not coming back, are you?"  
  
Vaughn woke with a jolt, nearly knocking heads with Sydney.  
  
"She's gone."  
  
"What?" He wiped sleep from his eyes, not comprehending what she had said.  
  
"Lindsley's not her bed. She's gone."  
  
Vaughn moaned. "We've got to find her." He jumped out of bed and quickly yanked his shirt off, not noticing she was still in the room. Not caring.  
  
"I'll go ask the front desk if they've seen her."  
  
"Good idea. I'll get into the video surveillance. Someone had to have seen her." He began walking to the bathroom, knowing full well he couldn't just change into his pants in front of her.  
  
"I can't believe..." he could hear Sydney trailing off as she neared the door that connected both of the rooms.  
  
Click  
  
Vaughn nearly tripped as he jumped out of the bathroom. "What was that?" he whispered.  
  
Sydney just nodded at the door to her room.  
  
Click  
  
Someone was in there.  
  
Vaughn grabbed his gun as Syd stealthily opened the door.  
  
"Good morning sleepy heads." Lindsley was sprawled out on the bed, television remote in hand.  
  
"Where have you been?" Vaughn nearly screamed as he set the safety on his gun.  
  
"Oh, just now? I went down to the restaurant."  
  
"The restaurant?"  
  
"Yeah. Eating... You know you should try it sometime."  
  
"You know, I have had just about enough of your attitude." He was quickly losing control.  
  
"Well, Agent Vaughn, you're just going to have to deal with it if you want any more information." Lindsley shot back.  
  
"I am... We are trying to help you here. Ok? You get that? We're on your side!"  
  
"How does keeping me prisoner make you on my side, huh?"  
  
"It's for your safety! We don't know who killed your parents. They might get you!"  
  
"You might too! How am I supposed to know? Who am I supposed to trust?"  
  
"If you'd just listen to us..."  
  
"If I'd listened to you last night, we might all be dead!"  
  
"ENOUGH!" Sydney finally stepped in. "That's enough. Vaughn is right." Lindsley's eyes narrowed. "And so are you Lindsley. But look, we have to work together here, alright? Bickering is not going to solve any of our problems." Silence. "We need to plan our next step, and quickly. We don't know how much time we have until the other side gets as much information as we have. Let's sit down and talk." Lindsley quietly trudged over to the table where Vaughn was now seated. "Ok. This is good. We're working together. Alright, what do we have?"  
  
"This receipt. That's all." Vaughn pulled the piece of paper from his pocket.  
  
"What does it mean Lindsley?"  
  
The girl sat quiet for several moments. Sydney could tell he temper was still flaring but that she was making a conscience effort to calm down.  
  
Finally, she spoke. "It means that we have to go to my school."  
  
"What is the key?" Vaughn demanded.  
  
"To be quite honest with you, Mike, I have no idea."  
  
"Then how do you know we have to go to your school?"  
  
"I just know."  
  
"I just know isn't going to cut it." Vaughn bored into her eyes. "We need some concrete evidence here or..."  
  
"Fine! Take it as woman's intuition. Take it as a hunch. I don't care! But you're going to have to trust me on this one."  
  
Before Vaughn had a chance to open his mouth, Sydney cut in. "Ok. We'll go to you school. How fast can we get there?"  
  
"From here, I'd say it's an hour drive."  
  
"We need to get Dixon..."  
  
"We don't have time, Vaughn." She paused. "He and I will grab a bite to eat and then we'll go. But you have to promise us that you won't move from this room."  
  
"Why would I move? Saturday morning cartoons are on." 


	7. Chapter 7

"What was that?" Sydney stared over her bowl of oatmeal at an unusually moody Vaughn.  
  
He paused, forkful of eggs frozen in mid-stride. "What was what?"  
  
"Upstairs...with Lindsley. What did you think you were doing?" Sydney tried to keep a pleasant countenance so as not to bring any unwanted attention, but was also determined make her point.  
  
Vaughn's uncomfortable silence was proof enough that it was working.  
  
"We're not going to exactly win her over with fighting with her." She spooned some oatmeal. It's warmth slid down her throat and she immediately realized how ravenous she truly was.  
  
Vaughn's face reddened and he became inordinately interested with his eggs.  
  
"All I'm saying is we should back off some," she softened. Had to be the food. "Ok?"  
  
He laid his fork down. "I'm sorry... It's just that..." his face shadowed. She wasn't positive, but Sydney thought he was tearing up.  
  
"It's ok."  
  
"No... I just.."  
  
"Vaughn," she reached across the table and laid her hand on his arm. "It's ok. Really."  
  
He looked into her eyes. He hadn't really done so since that day in Korea, and even then did he really look? They were soft, caring, almost as if they read his soul. He swallowed.  
  
Sydney noticed too.  
  
Just like he did before I disappeared.  
  
"We should go back upstairs." Sydney didn't want to say it but knew she had no other choice.  
  
"Right. We need to go."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"It's the next right," Lindsley leaned over the seat carefully directing Vaughn. "Those gates."  
  
"They're closed. Probably locked."  
  
"We're not going through the gates. See that road, to the left, follow that around. It'll drop you right next the dormitories."  
  
"What's the point of the gate?"  
  
Lindsley merely shrugged.  
  
"You two stay down here while I go up and get the key," Lindsley said as they stepped from the car. The sky was overcast and the midnight moon barely shown though the thick clouds.  
  
"We can't send you in there alone." This time Sydney was the voice of reason.  
  
Lindsley sighed. Wearily she continued. "I know this place. I know every nook, every cranny, every creaking board. No offense, but you don't. One creak. One misplaced foot. That's all it'll take."  
  
"She's right. We can't risk being exposed." Sydney was stunned into silence at Vaughn's comment.  
  
"Ok. I'm the window right above the door. I'll flash the lights if there is any trouble."  
  
"Let's just hope there's not."  
  
Lindsley ascended the stairs, carefully skipping the third, fifth, and ninth steps, all of which would let loose a deafening creak if stepped upon.  
  
She glanced down both halls.  
  
Silence.  
  
The only light emitted came from the end of each hall through the ostentatiously large windows.  
  
I never have liked those, she mused.  
  
Quietly, she tiptoed down the hall to her right, suddenly very thankful for the many illegal escapades that had brought her outside at night during the school year.  
  
Almost silently she opened the door to her room and slipped in.  
  
Breathing a sigh of relief, she slumped against the old piece of oak.  
  
"Welcome back, Lindsley." 


	8. Chapter 8

"I don't feel good about this," Sydney gripped her gun tightly, prepared for anything that might come.  
  
"You don't think she can do this?" Vaughn asked, a hint of uncertainty quivering in his voice.  
  
"No, it's not that. It just... seems too easy." They started moving closer to the dorm doors.  
  
Vaughn nodded his head in agreement as he scanned the perimeter.  
  
"How's Lauren?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Lauren. How is she?" Syd looked around, attempting to slice through the surrounding darkness.  
  
"Ok, I guess. Her trip to Washington was prolonged."  
  
"She spends a lot of time in DC."  
  
"Her job's a whore. What can I say?"  
  
"Nice wording," she smiled.  
  
"I try." He took a few more steps, gun at the ready. "Look." Vaughn pointed up at a window just above them. Light assaulted the enveloping darkness. "Come on."  
  
"Hold it right there." A gun cocked. Sydney swallowed. "Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air."  
  
Two of them, she thought. But they were large. Massive was a more appropriate term.  
  
She let her gun hit the ground. Vaughn did the same. They clattering sliced through the midnight silence.  
  
"Move," one of them grunted.  
  
Vaughn felt the iciness of the cold steel through his thin cotton shirt.  
  
"I told you this was too easy." 


End file.
